Marvin Hagler vs Ray Leonard

[mrlopez]

His retirement act annoyed me. He was ducking Hagler for years. He waited until he perceived Hagler was on the wrong side of his prime to fight him.

Co-Sign to thee mu***in fullest...............

[BattlingNelson]

He did wait until Hagler was on the wrong side of his prime, but I never understood why he took so much stick for not fighting him sooner. He was a WW after all not a MW. He fought Duran, Benitez and Hearns at 147 so you can't really complain that he didn't face Hagler sooner.

A detached retina made Leonard retire in the first place. Back in those days it was a high risk scenario trying to repair it.

[andrewcuff]

A detached retina made Leonard retire in the first place. Back in those days it was a high risk scenario trying to repair it.

Yeah, true, but what do you think about Leonard fighting Hagler earlier? Imagine for a second, the retina problem hadn't happened. Would Leonard have been slated for not stepping up to 160lbs to fight arguably the greatest middleweight of all time when he was a welterweight?

[deliveryman]

Yeah, true, but what do you think about Leonard fighting Hagler earlier? Imagine for a second, the retina problem hadn't happened. Would Leonard have been slated for not stepping up to 160lbs to fight arguably the greatest middleweight of all time when he was a welterweight?

Definitely. If Hearns and Duran did it, it would of been demanded that Leonard did the same.

[Thread Stealer]

Yeah, true, but what do you think about Leonard fighting Hagler earlier? Imagine for a second, the retina problem hadn't happened. Would Leonard have been slated for not stepping up to 160lbs to fight arguably the greatest middleweight of all time when he was a welterweight?

He probably would have, maybe not fairly, but it doesn't help that he opened his mouth and talked about fighting Hagler way back then. Also, it doesn't help that the hype machine was alive from the media.

Hagler rarely gets flack for refusing to jump to light-heavyweight to fight champs there like Qawi, who publicly asked for fights with Hagler. To the best of my knowledge, Hagler never responded or really showed any interest in fighting the top guys at LHW. Now if he stood next to Michael Spinks in a post-fight interview and Spinks asked him for a fight, and Hagler says (even jokingly) "Pat, sign this fight" and talked otherwise about fighting Spinks, and then didn't, yeah...he'd get some criticism.

[Steak]

I thought Hagler won with his harder shots and body work. I score more for body shots than most people it seems, so thats probebly why I gave him some rounds others would give Leonard.

interestingly enough, the biggest shot that Leonard landed the whole fight was the one that hit Hagler in the leg.

It was a good fight, but gosh Hagler was so slow in that fight. and just had an awful gameplan. and not only because he tried to box as a righty in the first rounds. the guy was just loading up on shots at points and missing completely at some times, Leonard didnt even have to move out of the way out of some of them, haha.

[BattlingNelson]

Yeah, true, but what do you think about Leonard fighting Hagler earlier? Imagine for a second, the retina problem hadn't happened. Would Leonard have been slated for not stepping up to 160lbs to fight arguably the greatest middleweight of all time when he was a welterweight?

It's speculation but probably not. I think the offer was on the table several times in SRL's 'first' career. In fact SRL decided he wanted Hagler only after he saw the Mugabi fight, where it was pretty evident that Hagler had lost a step.

Still the comeback to face one of the greatest middleweights of all times and win must be considered one of the great achievements in boxing history.

[andrewcuff]

It's speculation but probably not. I think the offer was on the table several times in SRL's 'first' career. In fact SRL decided he wanted Hagler only after he saw the Mugabi fight, where it was pretty evident that Hagler had lost a step.

Still the comeback to face one of the greatest middleweights of all times and win must be considered one of the great achievements in boxing history.

Yeah, agreed. Good post.